Medici

Medici

(mĕ`dĭchē, Ital. mā`dēchē), Italian family that directed the destinies of FlorenceFlorence, Ital. Firenze, city (1991 pop. 403,294), capital of Tuscany and of Firenze prov., central Italy, on the Arno River, at the foot of the Apennines. Florence, the jewel of the Italian Renaissance, is one of the world's great historic cities......Click the link for more information. from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and bankers, became affiliated through marriage with the major houses of Europe, and, besides acquiring (1569) the title grand duke of Tuscany, produced three popes (Leo XLeo X,1475–1521, pope (1513–21), a Florentine named Giovanni de' Medici; successor of Julius II. He was the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, was made a cardinal in his boyhood, and was head of his family before he was 30 (see Medici)......Click the link for more information., Clement VIIClement VII,c.1475–1534, pope (1523–34), a Florentine named Giulio de' Medici; successor of Adrian VI. He was the nephew of Lorenzo de' Medici and was therefore first cousin of Pope Leo X......Click the link for more information., and Leo XI), two queens of France (Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici, 1519–89, queen of France, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. She was married (1533) to the duc d'Orléans, later King Henry II......Click the link for more information. and Marie de' MediciMarie de' Medici, 1573–1642, queen of France, second wife of King Henry IV and daughter of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. She was married to Henry in 1600. After his assassination (1610) she became regent for her son Louis XIII......Click the link for more information.), and several cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. They also ruled for a brief period (1516–21) the duchy of Urbino.

Influence

The rise of the Medici in Florence coincided with the triumph of the capitalist class over the guild merchants and artisans. Until 1532 the democratic constitution of Florence was outwardly upheld, but the Medici exerted actual control over the government without holding any permanent official position. They were driven from power and expelled from Florence in 1433–34, from 1494 to 1512, and from 1527 to 1530. However, the attempts (such as the Pazzi conspiracyPazzi conspiracy, 1478, plot against Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico) and his brother Giuliano, designed to end the hegemony of the Medici in the Florentine state and to enlarge papal territory......Click the link for more information., 1478) of the Florentine republicans to restore the former liberties failed ultimately because of the Medici's wealth and powerful connections.

When their influence began, in the early 15th cent., much of the glorious period of the RenaissanceRenaissance[Fr.,=rebirth], term used to describe the development of Western civilization that marked the transition from medieval to modern times. This article is concerned mainly with general developments and their impact in the fields of science, rhetoric, literature, and.....Click the link for more information. in Florence lay already in the past; however, the magnificence and liberality of many of the members of the house, who were passionate patrons of the arts, literature, and learning, led to Florence's becoming the richest repository of European culture since the Athens of Pericles. Florence as it is today is largely the accomplishment of the Medici. This cultural flowering was accompanied by tremendous economic prosperity and expansion and also by territorial aggrandizement (see TuscanyTuscany, Ital. Toscana, region (1991 pop. 3,538,619), 8,876 sq mi (22,989 sq km), N central Italy, bordering on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west and including the Tuscan Archipelago......Click the link for more information.) that reached its climax in the 16th cent. The rule of the Medici, though denounced by their enemies as tyrannical, was at first generally tolerant and wise, but became stultifying and bigoted in the 17th and 18th cent.

Family Members

The genealogy of the family is complicated by numerous illegitimate offspring and by the tendency of some of the members to dispose of each other by assassination. The first important member was Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (1360–1429). His elder son, Cosimo, founded the senior line, which included Piero (1416–69); Lorenzo (Lorenzo il Magnifico); Piero (1471–1503); Pope Leo X; Giuliano, duke of Nemours; Lorenzo, duke of Urbino; Catherine de' Medici, queen of France; Ippolito de' Medici; Alessandro de' Medici; and Pope Clement VII. Giovanni di Bicci's younger son, Lorenzo (d.1440), founded the younger line, which included Lorenzino; Giovanni (delle Bande Nere); and the grand dukes of Tuscany—Cosimo I, Francesco (whose daughter was Marie de' Medici), Ferdinand I, Cosimo II, Ferdinand II, Cosimo III, and Gian Gastone, last of the line.

See separate articles on the most important members of the family.

Bibliography

See L. Collison-Morley, The Early Medici (1936); H. M. M. Acton, The Last Medici (rev. ed. 1958, repr. 1980); M. Brion, The Medici (tr. 1969); C. Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise & Fall (1980); T. Parks, Medici Money (2005). See also bibliographies under FlorenceFlorence, Ital. Firenze, city (1991 pop. 403,294), capital of Tuscany and of Firenze prov., central Italy, on the Arno River, at the foot of the Apennines. Florence, the jewel of the Italian Renaissance, is one of the world's great historic cities......Click the link for more information. and RenaissanceRenaissance[Fr.,=rebirth], term used to describe the development of Western civilization that marked the transition from medieval to modern times. This article is concerned mainly with general developments and their impact in the fields of science, rhetoric, literature, and.....Click the link for more information..

Medici

a Florentine family that played an important role in the political and economic life of medieval Italy.

Members of the Medici family founded a trading-banking company that was one of the largest in 15th-century Europe. From 1434 to 1737 (with interruptions from 1494 to 1512 and from 1527 to 1530), they ruled Florence. In the 14th century the Medici, who belonged to the popolo grasso (upper class), waged a vigorous struggle against the feudal nobility. The first prominent member of the family was Salvestro de’ Medici (1331-88), who helped provoke and then used the 1378 uprising of the ciompi (artisans of the lowest class) to consolidate his family’s political and economic position. Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (1360-1429) carried out extensive trading-banking operations, becoming papal banker and opening branches of his company in Bruges, London, Paris, and other cities.

The main line. Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464), son of Giovanni di Bicci, was Florence’s wealthiest man and expanded the scale of operations of the Medici bank. He carried on a struggle against the Albizzi family and in 1434 became to all intents and purposes sole ruler (signor) of Florence (which retained republican institutions in form). Patron of scholars and artists, he contributed to the development of Renaissance culture. Piero the Gouty (1416-69), son of Cosimo, ruled from 1464. Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-92), son of Piero, ruled from 1469. Virtually ending the system of republican government, he became sole tyrant of Florence. He maintained his authority through terror, harshly suppressing the 1478 conspiracy directed by members of the Pazzi family against Medici tyranny. Lorenzo was a poet and philosopher. Under his rule the Florentine political regime was “aristocratized.”

Piero (1472-1503), Lorenzo’s son, was expelled in 1494 from Florence by the insurgent people under Savonarola. Giovanni (1475-1521), Piero’s brother, became pope (Leo X) in 1513. After restoration of Medici tyranny in Florence in 1512, he became to all intents and purposes its ruler, although in 1512-13 the nominal ruler was his younger brother, Giuliano (1479-1516), who was granted the title duke of Nemours by the French king in 1515, and from 1513 to 1519 the nominal ruler was Lorenzo (1492-1519), Piero’s son. Catherine de’ Medici (1519-89), Lorenzo’s daughter, by marrying Henry II became queen of France. Giulio (1477 or 1478 to 1534), nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was pope (Clement VII) from 1523 to 1534. Ippolito (1510-35), Giuliano’s son and nominal ruler of Florence from 1524, was expelled from the city in 1527. Alessandro (1510-37) ruled from 1530, after Medici tyranny was restored in Florence. In 1532 the Florentine state became a duchy, and Alessandro accordingly became duke. His murder brought the main line of the Medici to an end. Members of the family’s collateral line became rulers of Florence.

The collateral line. Cosimo I (1519-74), duke of Florence from 1537, subjugated Siena, united all Tuscany, and received in 1569 the title of grand duke of Tuscany. His grandson, Cosimo II (1590-1621), grand duke of Tuscany from 1609, was completely subordinate to the Spanish Hapsburgs (as were all subsequent dukes of Tuscany from the Medici family). Gian Gastone (1671-1737), great-grandson of Cosimo II, was the last grand duke of Tuscany from the Medici family; he had no children. Extinction of the family line came with the death of Gian Gastone’s sister, Anna Maria Ludovica (1667-1743). A French queen, Marie de Medicis (1573-1642), the wife of Henry IV and granddaughter of Cosimo I, belonged to a collateral line of the family.

Caterina Maria Romula de Medici was called all of these things but she was a most powerful and influential woman, Queen of France for eleven years, and Queen Mother, regent and de facto ruler for thirty more.

95 each): Queen Victoria And The British Empire (193179829X), Catherine The Great (1931798273), Catherine De Medici And The Protestant Reformation (1931798265) and Queen Isabella And The Unification Of Spain (1931798257) each provide over 150 pages of ey biographical facts with plenty of informed background history to understand how each historic figure came to be notable.

Following Godric is a parade of characters whose histories were a string of adventures: Cosimo de Medici, the Florentine financier of the Renaissance; Philip II, king of Spain, who inherited the world's richest empire and brought it to ruin; J.

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